1970s Fads: CB Radios

By Wikipedia

Citizens' Band radio (CB) is a system of short distance
radio communication between individuals on a selection of 40 channels
within the single 27 MHz (11 meter) band. The popularity of these devices
by the mid 1970s - and their fairly swift decline from the mainstream (at
least as a form of entertainment) - put them squarely in the
"fad" category.

The Citizens' Band radio service in the United States is one of several
personal radio services regulated by the FCC. These services began in 1945
to permit citizens a short-distance radio band for personal communication
(e.g. radio controlled models, family communications, individual
businesses).

In the 1960s the service was popular for small trade businesses (e.g.
electricians, plumbers, carpenters) and transportation services (e.g. taxi
and trucking firms). "10 codes" originally used in the public
service (e.g. police, fire, ambulance) and land mobile service were used
for short acknowledgements. With the advancement of solid state technology
(transistors replacing tubes) in the Super70s, the weight, size and cost
of the radios decreased and the number of them in use skyrocketed.

US truckers were at the head of the boom. Many CB clubs were formed and
a special CB slang language evolved. The prominent
use of CB radios in mid- and late-1970s films (see list
below), television shows such as The
Dukes of Hazzard (debuted 1979), and in popular novelty songs such
as C.W. McCall's Convoy
(1976) helped to establish the radios as a nationwide craze in America
from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s.

Originally CB did require a license and the use of a call sign but when
the CB craze was at its peak, many people ignored this requirement and
used made up nicknames or "handles". The use of handles instead
of call signs is related to the common practice of using the radios to
warn other drivers of speed traps during the time when the speed limit was
reduced to 55 mph beginning in 1974 in response to the 1973 hike in oil
prices and safety concerns.

The low cost and simple operation of CB equipment gave access to a
communications medium that was previously only available to specialists.
The "boom" in CB usage in the 1970s bears several similarities
to the explosion in popularity of the Internet in the mid-1990s; similar
to the Internet chat rooms a quarter century later, the CB allowed people
to get to know one another in a quasi-anonymous manner. The many
restrictions on the authorized use of CB radio led to widespread disregard
of the regulations, most notably in antenna height, distance restriction
for communications, licensing and the use of call signs, and allowable
transmitter power. Eventually the license requirement was dropped
entirely.

Originally, there were only 23 CB channels in the U.S.; 40-channel
radios did not come along until 1977. In the 1960s, channels 1-8 and 15-22
were reserved for "intrastation" communications among units
under the same license, while the other channels (9-14 and 23) could be
used for "interstation" calls to other licenses.

In the early 1970's, channel 9 became reserved for emergency use.
Channel 10 was used for highway communications, and channel 11 was used as
a general calling channel. Later, channel 19 became the preferred highway
channel in most areas, as it did not have the adjacent-channel
interference problems with channel 9.

In its heyday in the 1970's, you were likely to find CB Channel 9
monitored by parties who could relay messages to the authorities, or even
directly monitored by the authorities themselves. However, with the
popularity of cellular phones, support for Channel 9 as an emergency
channel has largely vanished. If you are in dire need of help on the road
and your only communications tool is a CB radio, you are much more likely
to find help on Channel 19.

Convoy!

CW McCall's song
'Convoy' perhaps best captured the fad in a
song.

In more recent years CB has lost much of its original appeal due to the
advancement of technologies, such as the Internet and mobile phones.

CB Slang

CB slang are terms that those operating CB radio used mainly during the
CB craze of the Super70s and Awesome80s. Some of these slang terms are
still in use with their original meanings, others not used at all and some
have changed meaning. This list shows the historical meanings.

Some of the popular slang terms included:

Handle. A Handle is the nickname a CB user uses in CB
transmissions. Other CB users will refer to the user by this nickname. To
say "What's your handle?" is to ask another user for their CB
nickname.County Mountie. This refers to a Sheriff's deputy car.Smokey. A law officer. A "smokey report" is what CB users
say when they have information on a law officer, such as location or
current activities.Bear. Another slang term for a law officer. References to Smokey
& Bear are both direct references to Smokey Bear, a character image
commonly seen along U.S. highways. He wears a flat-brimmed forest ranger's
hat very similar to the hat included in many highway patrol uniforms in
the U.S.Bear / Smokey in a plain brown wrapper. An unmarked police car.Bear in the air or Fly in the sky. A police helicopter.Bubble gum machine. See "Gum ball machine"Back door. The area behind a vehicle. To say "I got your back
door" means that someone is watching another's back. Knocking at
your back door means approaching from behind. (Today back door is more
often used as sexual slang.)Four. Usually short for the ten code 10-4, which means
acknowledged, ok, etc.Four-wheeler. A small passenger vehicle, as distinguished from an
"eighteen-wheeler" (a semi truck.)Front door. The leader of a convoy.Gum ball machine or bubble gum machine Reference to any law
enforcement vehicle. It refers to a popular style of rotating mirror light
used by many state police and some other law enforcement agencies at the
time, however the term can refer to any law enforcement vehicle. It looked
somewhat like the round style of 'penny' gumball machines. It was
basically a clear cylinder, like an upside down jar, with lights and a
spinning mirror system inside. It was usually mounted on the center of the
roof.Hauling fence post holes or Hauling sailboat fuel. Carrying
an empty load.Local yokel. A law officer with a city or township police force,
seldom encountered on interstate highways.Put the hammer down. Slang for shifting to the highest gear &
flooring the accelerator.Put the pedal to the metal. Another slang term for pushing down on
the accelerator.Picture-taker. A law officer monitoring traffic with a radar gun.
Today, this can also refer to an automated speed camera.Seat cover. An attractive female passenger in a vehicle.Twenty as in What's your twenty? This is asking the receiver
what their current location is. This term comes from the ten-code 10-20.Rolling refinery. A semi truck carrying fuel.Suicide jockey. A truck carrying explosives.Got your ears on? Asking the receiver if they are on the air and
listening to you.Breaker (channel number) Telling other CB users that you'd like to
start a transmission on a channel. ("One-nine" refers to channel
19, the most widely used among truck drivers.)Breaker, breaker to (CB user handle). A slang term telling another
user that you'd like to speak to them.

CB's in Music

CB radio appears in several of 1976's biggest hits. All of these
charted on both the US pop and country music charts that year:

One Piece at a Time by Johnny Cash — As the song ends, Cash
describes his incredible Frankenstein car over the CB.Convoy by C.W. McCall — "Pigpen" and
"Rubberduck" form a convoy of rigs.Teddybear by Red Sovine - A handicapped boy befriends a group of
truckers over his CB.The White Knight - by Cledus Maggard And The Citizens Band - Is the
mysterious White Knight giving out dubious information for a reason?C.B. Savage by Rod Hart — Is the mysterious C.B. Savage really
gay or hiding an even bigger secret? - A gay-themed parody of both White
Knight and Convoy.